Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting distances in two directions and, more particularly, to an apparatus for simultaneously measuring a distance and height using a two-wavelength light source.
Related Art
A demand for housework help robots, such as robot cleaners, is increasing and the service robot market is growing due to an increase of an aged population, a strong wind of well-being, the avoidance of hard works. Such a service robot is based on autonomous traveling, and thus can recognize indoor element environment, write an indoor topographic map, detect an obstacle through some sensors, and move based on an autonomous determination.
In a conventional robot cleaner, for example, an ultrasonic sensor is used in order to measure a distance and a sensor adopting a position sensitive detector (PSD) is used in order to measure height separately from the distance sensor.